A forerunner of the post-painterly abstraction movement, contemporary artist Gary Komarin approaches each composition with a pure openness to inspiration. With every brushstroke, he builds a visual interpretation of his mindset in that moment, never knowing what he's going to paint next. Komarin asserts that, for him, "the best paintings are the paintings that paint themselves."
Komarin invites risk into his abstract work, and employs daring in every element of his pieces. From his adventurous deployment of spackle and house paint as mediums to his playful use of color and imperfect lines, he pulls forms from a backdrop of consciousness, rather than merely delivering images to a surface. He enjoys instilling a child's sense of wonder into his abstractions and still-lifes, invoking a toddler's experience of "seeing things without knowing what they are."
Born in New York City, Komarin is the son of a Czech architect and Austrian author. He attended art school at Boston University, where painter Phillip Guston became a mentor. Much of Komarin's work nods to Guston, without mimicking or replicating the latter’s signature cartoonish style.
Komarin has exhibited in the United States, Asia, the United Kingdom and throughout continental Europe. In 1996, his work was included in an exhibition at 41 Green Street in New York. He has received numerous awards, including the New York Foundation for the Arts grant in painting, the Joan Mitchell Prize in Painting and the Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship. Komarin lives in rural Connecticut, where he continues to create new work.
Find original Gary Komarin paintings, drawings and mixed media works on 1stDibs.
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
$15,642
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$15,642
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$15,642
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$15,642
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$15,642
Vessel
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Vessel, 2024 Acrylic on canvas/wood panel 76.2 x 61 cm 30 x 24 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary K...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2025 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas , 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin...
Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small Canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Small Canvas
By Gary Komarin
Located in London, GB
Gary Komarin Small canvas, 2024 Oil on canvas 35.6 x 27.9 cm 14 x 11 inches Eschewing traditional materials in favor of tarps and drop cloths, spackle and house paint, Gary Komarin ...
Canvas, Oil
Price Upon Request
A Wilder Blue
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Born in New York City, the son of a Czech architect and Viennese writer, Gary Komarin is a risk taker in contemporary painterly abstraction. Komarin’s stalwart images have an epic quality that grip the viewer with the idea that he or she is looking at a contemporary description of something timeless. For painter Gary Komarin, abstraction has never been a formal dead end. Rather, it has allowed him to challenge the limitations of the style - to make painting ‘include more’ precisely because a recognizable image excludes too much. Komarin has been called a “painter’s painter”. His status in this regard is based on the authenticity of his work, its deep connection to the tradition of Modern painting as well as its sustained individuality as an utterly personal voice. Like many of the best artists of his generation he is indebted to the New York School, especially his mentor Philip Guston with whom he studied at Boston University where he was awarded a Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Komarin has been particularly successful at filtering these influences through his own potent iconography. “From these seemingly unlovely methods Komarin gets paintings that vibrate with historical memory, echoing such things as Matisse’s driest most empty pictures. Robert Motherwell’s spare abstractions of the 1970’s, or the early New Mexico and Berkeley paintings...
Enamel
Price Upon Request
CAKES STACKED/SINGLE SACK (yellow on green)
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image...
Price Upon Request
CAKES STACKED/SINGLE SACK (green on pink)
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image are...
Oil
Price Upon Request
CAKES STACKED/SINGLE SACK (white on blue)
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image are...
Paper, Acrylic
Price Upon Request
Duke and Wigmore Series #1
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Born in New York City, the son of a Czech architect and Viennese writer, Gary Komarin is a risk taker in contemporary painterly abstraction. Komarin’s stalwart images have an epic qu...
Acrylic, Archival Paper
$1,632
H 15.75 in W 35.44 in D 0.12 in
Originals-Magic Bell Triptych-British Awarded Artist--after Monet-impressionism
Located in London, GB
To Shizico, a triptych is a compilation of visual prayers; it embodies a meditative voyage akin to a form of meditation. For her, the repetition of motifs within the triptych serves ...
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$1,360
H 15.75 in W 23.63 in D 0.2 in
Original Diptych-Sunset Song-British Awarded Artist-Abstract impression-oil
Located in London, GB
Sunset Song Series was created entirely en plein air, painted directly under the dimming light of late-summer and autumn sunsets. This body of work is a meditation on seeing without...
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$680
H 15.75 in W 11.82 in D 0.12 in
Original-Magic Bell-British Awarded Artist-Abstract Expression-oil on canvas
Located in London, GB
In her 2024 series, "The Weaver," Shizico explores forms, layers, and time onto canvases. Applying the format of diptychs and triptychs, she creates lyrical narratives, capturing the...
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$1,360
H 15.75 in W 23.63 in D 0.6 in
Original Diptych-British Awarded Artist-Impasto, oil-Jardin d'Hiver Series
Located in London, GB
Jardin d'Hiver Series is Shizico Yi's latest collection, created in her winter studio while longing for the summer left behind. Reflecting on the vibrant days spent painting en plein...
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$5,400
H 48 in W 40 in
Aladdin's - Abstract Acrylic Painting in Black, Gray, and White
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This contemporary acrylic abstract painting is rendered in black, gray and white. Layered textures, curated markings and muted tones of black and gray define the central image of th...
Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$1,333
H 15.75 in W 23.63 in D 0.2 in
Original Diptych-Sunset Song-British Awarded Artist-Plein Air evening oil
Located in London, GB
Sunset Song Series was created entirely en plein air, painted directly under the dimming light of late-summer and autumn sunsets and moonlight, with no artificial light to guide her...
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$1,836
H 15.75 in W 35.44 in D 0.12 in
Originals-Magic Bell Triptych-British Awarded Artist-After Monet-Impressionism
Located in London, GB
To Shizico Yi a triptych is a visual prayers; it embodies a meditative journeylike the form of meditation. The repetition of motifs within the triptych serves as a method to revisit...
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$680Sale Price|20% Off
H 21 in W 23.5 in D 0.13 in
Barong Mask Dance - Balinese Ubud Painting by KT Sunu
Located in Soquel, CA
Highly detailed depiction of a Barong Mask dance in Bali. Several people wearing elaborate masks are taking part in a dance or ritual. People are dressed i...
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$8,500
H 60 in W 48 in D 2 in
Topaz from the Mirror Stone series (Portrait Painting - Hedy Lamarr)
Located in New York City, NY
CAROLINA GOMEZ Emerald from the Mirror Stone series (Portrait Painting - Hedy Lamarr) 60 x 48 inches - Unique OIL ON CANVAS Carolina Gomez’s works have become known for the powerful...
Canvas, Oil
$1,773
H 31.5 in W 47.25 in
Abstraction - Contemporary Abstract Oil Painting, Colorful, Dynamic
By Monika Rossa
Located in Warsaw, PL
Contemporary colorful oil on canvas abstract painting by Polish artist based in USA Monika Rossa. Painting is a gestural abstraction in mostly warm colors. MONIKA ROSSA studied pa...
Canvas, Oil
$4,144
H 59.06 in W 78.75 in
Untitled. Abstract oil on canvas painting, Big scale, Polish artist
By Klaudia Lata
Located in Warsaw, PL
Contemporary big scale oil on canvas abstract painting by Polish artist Klaudia Lata KLAUDIA LATA (born in 1993) Graduate of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. Diplom...
Canvas, Oil
No Name 55, Mixed Media Painting on Linen
By Andrea Gallotti
Located in New York City, NY
Italian painter Andrea Gallotti’s practice is rooted in the quiet rigor of repetition, a deliberate return to a gesture so simple it borders on the childlike, yet so subtle that its ...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
CAKE (dark blue)
By Gary Komarin
Located in White Plains, NY
"CAKE (dark blue)" by Gary Komarin, 2015, acrylic on paperbag, 24 x 18 inches. This painting features the cream colored outline of a two tiered cake on a dark blue field with the word Cake above it painted on paperbags. Born in 1951 in New York City, Gary Komarin is an American artist living and working in Connecticut and New York City. Like many of the best artists of his generation, he is indebted to the New York School, especially his mentor Philip Guston with whom he studied at Boston University. Komarin has exhibited extensively throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia. In 2008, he had a solo museum exhibition at the Musee Kiyoharu Shirakaba in Japan. In 1996, Komarin’s work was included in a pivotal exhibition at 41 Greene Street, New York, NY where his work was shown with the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Philip Guston and Bill Traylor...
Acrylic
Cake Stacked Brown on Blue
By Gary Komarin
Located in Fairfield, CT
Art in America Sarah S. King July 2003 Komarin’s most successful works are serial - such as the Pop-artish “cake” images - in which versions of a crudely outlined central image are...
Enamel